ARIZONA WEEK

ARIZONA WEEK - DAYS 1-2

Arrived in Phoenix Tuesday  April 14 drove to the kids house and settled in.    Two of the grand-kids and their spouses, and kids came in the evening to say Hi.  The next three days would be a whirlwind.  They went all out to find things to do. And do we did.

Wednesday April 13 left first thing in the morning, driving to Prescott.  There we arrived late morning, visited The Prescott Brewery for a wine-tasting - they make their wine with honey as an added ingredient - and ended up buying a couple of bottles.

We had lunch in their dining room, then continued on to the Bearizona Wildlife Park in Williams.  This is a North American wildlife park allowing visitors to drive into the wilderness and view the animals from the convenience of our cars.  There were placed where the signs read "lock doors windows up".

Upon leaving the park we visited some of the Route 66 places, then drove on to Flagstaff where we would spend the next two nights.

This was a fun day, the first of several.  Tomorrow - or whenever I get a chance to do my next blog - we will cover the second day of our adventure.  Hope you enjoy the pics, take care, and God Bless.

CLOTHES LINE RULES

CLOTHES LINE RULES

How many of you remember clothes lines?  How many of you have actually used clothes lines?

I do and did.  My sister and I when growing up would help Mother on wash-day do the laundry.  First - gather up all the dirty clothes, bed linens, etc.  Second lug it all down to the basement, where the wringer washer lived.  Do you remember, or have used, a wringer washer?

In addition to the washer there were two cement laundry tubs for rinsing the clothes.  Fill the washer with hot water and soap, a lot of times the scrapings from a bar of home-made soap.  Always wash the whites first.  That consisted of the bed sheets and underwear.  In the hottest water.  Then the clothes you wore, towels and stuff like that, ending with work clothes.  Now here is where the clothes line rules come into play.

1.  ALWAYS hang the socks by the toes, NOT by the top.

2. PANTS were hung by the bottom cuffs, not the waistband.

3.  WASH the clothes line before hanging clothes.  Using a damp cloth you walked along the line wiping it off.

4.  ORDER - clothes were hung in a certain order, always the whites with the whites, and hang  the whites FIRST.

5.  NEVER hang a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail.  Otherwise what would the neighbors think?

6.  MONDAY was wash day!  Never hang clothes on the weekend or on SUNDAY, for Heaven's sake.

7.  SHEETS and TOWELS always on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle.  In other words, your underwear.

8.  ALWAYS gather the pins from the clothes lines and take the lines down, rolling into a ball until the next week. 

9.   RAINY days it was permissible to hang the clothes in the basement.  Otherwise you would hang them in the rain hoping it would stop and the clothes would dry.  In winter, you often had freeze-dried clothes.

10.  EFFICIENCY - lining up the clothes so that so that by over-lapping slightly you could use 3 clothes pins for two items instead of 4 pins.

11.  CLOTHES off the line before dinner (supper) time, neatly folded placed in the clothes basket ready to be IRONED.  That is a whole 'nother subject.

12.  POLE - a long wooden pole, usually notched on one end, that would be used to hold the line up high enough so the clothes would not drag on the ground.  The notch fitted onto the line.

THE CLOTHES LINE POEM

A clothesline was a news forecast to neighbours passing by

There were no secrets you could keep when clothes were hung to dry.

 

It also was a friendly line, for neighbors always knew

If company had stopped on by to spend a night or two.

 

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets and towels' upon the line

You'd see the 'company table cloths' with intricate design.

 

The line announced a baby's birth to folks who lived inside

As brand new infant clothes were hung so carefully with pride.

 

The ages of the children could so readily be known

By watching how the sizes changed, you'd know how much they'd grown.

 

It also told when illness struck, as extra sheets were hung,

Then nightclothes and a bathrobe too, haphazardly were strung.

 

It also said "on vacation now" when lines hung limp and bare

It also said "were baack" when full lines sagged without an inch to spare.

 

New folks in town were scorned upon if wash was dingy and gray

And neighbors carefully raised their brows, and looked the other way.

 

But clotheslines now are of the past, for dryers make work much less

Now what goes on inside a home is anybody's guess.

 

I really miss that way of life, it was a friendly sign

When neighbors knew each other best, by what hung on the line.

 

I received this as an e-mail, from my sister.  This was the way of life when we were growing up.  It may sound strange and hard now, but back then --- that's just the way it was.

 

 



HOLLAND AMERICA WESTERN CARIBBEN CRUISE PART IV

COSTA MAYA MEXICO

Friday March 27 we docked at Costa Maya Mexico.  82 degrees and sunny.  This would be our last port of call until we arrived back at Tampa.

I had not scheduled any land tours, but spent the day with Nancy shopping.  And shopping.  And shopping.  This particular area was very beautiful, performers performing, and haggling prices.  Did some of my Christmas shopping. 

And, of course taking pictures.  I think I have put about 6 of the best  pictures in the business.  Took around 800.  After editing I have folders on my computer (if it has not erased them over-night) with all the pictures in them.

We traveled a total of 1891 Nautical Miles on this journey.  Tampa to Key West 325 miles.  Key West to Roatan 621 miles.  Roatan to Santo Tomas 156 miles.  Santo Tomas to Costa Maya 222 miles.  And Maya to Tampa 640 miles.

Hard to believe the trip is winding down.  Fun times go by all too quickly.  But I have a lot to look forward to yet.  A trip to Arizona to visit the kids.  Another cruise, this time Western Caribbean.  A bus trip to Maryland.  And several road trips in the thinking stage.  Too bad I don't have anything to do. 

To me traveling is one of life's greatest joys.  There is a whole world out there.   One of the fun parts is when someone else mentions something about where I have been, or I see it in the newspaper, hear it on the news, or run across it in a book I am reading, I really really know what they are talking about.

Enough of this.   Costa Maya Mexico is a small tourist region in the state o Quintana Roo Mexico.  It's history dates back to around 6500 BC - that's a long long time ago.  In the 16th Century (the 1500's) English pirates took over a large part of the coast attacking the Spanish ships loaded with gld and riches.

At the end of the 19th century the Mexican Navy finally too complete control over the state of Quintana Roo.  The pirates were finally banished.

WE returned to the ship mid-afternoon, attended High Tea, of course, and watch as the sip undocked at 5 p.m.  Saturday would be a full day of sailing, arriving in Tampa at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning.  Then thru customs, to the airport and home.

Another memory.

Have a great day and God Bless.

HOLLAND AMERICA WESTERN CARIBBEAN CRUISE PART III

WESTERN CARIBBEAN PART III - SANTO TOMAS DE CASTILLE GUATEMALA

We arrived at Santo Tomas de Castille Guatemala at 7:19 a.m.  After breakfast went ashore and I did a 1 hour trolley tour of the interior, including the capital which is Guatemala Guatemala.  You read this right.  The capital city is the same as the country. 

Guatemala dates as far back as 2999 BC.  Around 1519 the Spanish began arriving.  With them came many  diseases that devastated the native populations.  In 1821 the Captaincy-general of Guatemala officially proclaimed independence from Spain.  Finally in 1825 Guatemala created its own flag.

Again, when you leave the tourist area everywhere is poor, including the capital.  Again if it were not for the tourists and fishing they could not survive.  One other thing they have going for them is they have a lot of nickel that they ship to other countries, including the USA. 

After returning from the trolley ride I embarked on a 3 hour boat tour along the coast and up one of the large rivers where we saw many many pelicans and white herons, along with other birds.

We saw many homes along the banks of the river, and stopped at one such home.  The lady of the house was making tortillas which she would serve us.  We were told NOT to offer payment as she would be highly insulted.  We WERE her guests.  Our guide suggested that we drop whatever money we wanted to into a container sitting on the dock where we tied up. 

As we were pulling into this cove two hand made canoes approached our boat, girls about 12-13 years of age coming along side to sell us their home made bracelets for $1.00.

There was also a small gift shop attached to the open air kitchen where the tortillas were being made.

It was sunny and 81 degrees.

Upon returning to the ship met up with Nancy and we had supper, while watching the ship leaving for our next stop.  It was 5 p.m.  That night the water was pretty rough.  Felt like driving over the potholes in good ole PA.  Got rocked to sleep that night, looking forward to the next port - no side trips planned, going shopping with Nancy and relaxing.

When a cruise ship comes into port, all shops on board are closed, along with the casino, and liquor store.  We are not allowed to shop on board while docked.

The adventure was winding down.  One more stop, then all day cruising on Saturday, arriving back in Tampa on Sunday.   Our trip was going by all too fast.  Just like life, going by all too fast.

Hope you are enjoying my trip and God Bless.